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This event is hybrid, register to attend here.
Join us for an insightful dialogue with Horacio Larreta, the former Chief of Government of the City of Buenos Aires, as he shares reflections on his tenure in city government and offers perspectives on the political landscape of Argentina and Latin America.
This event will delve into Larreta's role as a presidential candidate and his vision for the future of Argentina. As populism continues to shape political discourse in the region, Larreta will share his perspectives on its impact and implications for governance.
Attendees will have the opportunity to explore Larreta's views on the Milei presidency and its significance in Argentina's political landscape. From economic policies to social dynamics, this discussion promises to offer nuanced insights into the complexities of contemporary Argentine politics.
Speaker Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, Argentine economist, politician and the former Chief of Government of the City of Buenos Aires.
Discussants Steven Levitsky, David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government and Director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard, and Rafael M. Di Tella, William Ziegler Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School.
Moderated by Agustina Rodríguez Biasone, Humphrey fellow in the Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies (SPURS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Presented in collaboration with the Harvard Argentine Student Society (HASS) and Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University
Biographies
Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, Argentine economist, politician and the former Chief of Government of the City of Buenos Aire (2015-2023.). Larreta holds a BA in economics from Universidad de Buenos Aires and a MBA from Harvard University. After completing his MBA, he returned to Argentina to pursue a career in politics. He was in charge of the Social Security System and of Arg IRS. In 2002, he founded the PRO Party with Mauricio Macri. He was the Chief of Cabinet of the city when Macri was mayor (2007-2015). In 2015, he was elected mayor of Buenos Aires. Under his leadership, the city underwent a remarkable transformation in terms of social integration, transport infrastructure, education, and security. He was re-elected in 2019 with a record 56% of the vote, becoming the first mayor in history to win in the first round. During a second term marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, he worked with other Argentine and international cities to confront the health crisis. The city’s evidence-based, comprehensive strategy to flatten the curve, care for citizens, and strengthen the health system was internationally recognized, and paved the way to a strong post-pandemic recovery. In 2023, he ran as a presidential candidate with an agenda based on development, job creation, dialogue, and consensus.
Steven Levitsky is David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government and Director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard. His research focuses on democratization and authoritarianism, political parties, and weak and informal institutions, with a focus on Latin America. He is co-author (with Daniel Ziblatt) of How Democracies Die, which was a New York Times Best-Seller and was published in 25 languages. He has written or edited 12 other books, including Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America: Argentine Peronism in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge University Press 2003), Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War (with Lucan Way) (Cambridge University Press, 2010), Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism (with Lucan Way) (Princeton University Press, 2022), and Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point (with Daniel Ziblatt) (Crown Publishers, 2023). He and Lucan Way are currently working on a book on democratic resilience across the world.
Rafael M. Di Tella Argentine economist, William Ziegler Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. In 1991, di Tella graduated from the Universidad de Buenos Aires with a degree in economics and in 1996 received his doctorate from Keble College, Oxford. Professor Di Tella has taught at Harvard Business School since July 1997. His work has focused on the political economy, with a focus on institutional development. One strand of work studies measures of happiness and how they may inform government policies on issues that range from the incidence of inequality to the inflation-unemployment tradeoff as well as the role of beliefs in economic organization, including reversals of pro-market reform and, more generally, why doesn't capitalism flow to poor countries.
Agustina Rodríguez Biasone is a Humphrey fellow in the Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies (SPURS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She holds a law degree from the National University of Mar del Plata and a Master's degree in Public Policy from Torcuato Di Tella University, and she is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Leadership and Political Analysis at the CIAS University Institute. She previously served as a coordinator in the Subsecretariat of Human Potential Development at the Ministry of Human Development and Habitat of the City of Buenos Aires, where she was responsible for implementing strategies to address the social economy of the most vulnerable neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. She was a member of the crisis committee at the Ministry of Human Development and Habitat of the City of Buenos Aires during the Covid pandemic and was involved in urbanization projects of settlements in Buenos Aires at the City Housing Institute. Before that, she worked as an advisor in the National Congress on issues related to criminal and youth law, and as a researcher for the Ministry of Security of the Nation on topics related to drug trafficking.